The markets had a very strong start to the week with a huge gap up at the opening and ran very sharply higher early on as shorts got hammered. They tested the highs on the S&P 500, reaching up to 1112, just 1 1/2 points or so from its 2009 peak. At that point the Nasdaq 100, which did reach over 1800, got 12-13 points from its high and slightly negatively diverged. They then backed off, gave back a good chunk of the gains, stabilized by mid-afternoon, and then in the last 25 minutes came on again with a surge and padded the gains.

Net on the day the Dow was up 132.79 to 10450.95, the S&P 500 up 14.86 at 1106.24, and the Nasdaq 100 up 28.55 at 1792.94.

The technicals were positive by nearly 4 to1 on advance-declines on New York and about 2 1/2 to 1 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 4 1/2 to 1 positive on New York on light total volume of 985 million shares. Nasdaq traded just over 1 3/4 billion and had a better than 3 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed with as many gainers as losers, despite the fact that the indices were up as much as they were. A lot of small caps didn’t participate today.

On the plus side, by far the star of the day was Origin Agritech (SEED), up 5.24 to 10.45 on 44 1/2 million shares traded today, 5-6 times the float, a 100 percent gain.

In that sector, AgFeed Industries (FEED) also went along for the ride, up 59 cents, or 14% to 4.88. Agria Corp (GRO) gained 82 cents, or 25 percent, to 4.17.

Other stocks of note, biotech ARCA biopharma (ABIO) was up 2.07 to 4.32, a gain of 92 percent on 3 1/2 million shares.

We traded both ABIO and SEED today in our day trading diary.

Sonic Solutions (SNIC) rose 70 cents to 9.08 and Nanometrics (NANO) 70 cents as well to 11.60.

General Electric (GE) advanced 43 cents to 16.02 on a possible IPO of the Universal subsidiary. Canadian Solar (CSIQ) jumped 98 cents to 21.99, and A-Power Energy (APWR) 69 cents to 14.47.

Leading the way on the downside was China Green Agriculture (CGA), down 1.29 to 15.85, and Rambus (RMBS), off 1.38 to 16.72.

Those were the only point-plus losers.

Other fractional losers were Netlist (NLST), which finally gave back 83 cents to 6.44 after last week’s monstrous gains. Genco (GNK) in a weak shipping sector due to the falling Baltic Dry Index was down 92 cents to 24.54. Excel Maritime (EXM) lost 15 cents in that sector to 7.23.

Among the ultra ETFs, the Direxion Financial Bear 3x Shares (FAZ) fell 78 cents to 19.21, the Direxion Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 68 cents to 18.08, and the Direxion Small Cap 3x Bear (TZA) 67 cents to 11.68.

However, the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) gained 2.81 to 77.84 and the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) 1.66 to 50.44.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, there was a gap up at the opening, a strong run early on, a mid-day pullback, and then a mid-afternoon stabilization before a final 20-minute surge added to the day’s results.

The positive thing about today’s session was not only the early strong action but the fact that the indices pulled back and consolidated in an orderly fashion without any downside thrust, and came back near the end. We’ll see if that results in any further upside.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com.